Last Modified: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 6:37 p.m.

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Hutchinson stood in the soaring central atrium of the school's new campus on La. 311 between Houma and Thibodaux, taking in its sheer size.

“It's huge,” the former student government vice president said. “And it's beautiful.”

School officials unveiled the new building Tuesday in front of a crowd boasting a host of dignitaries on both the state and local level.

“This is a gorgeous building, but it's about a lot more than bricks and mortar,” Gov. Bobby Jindal said “It's about the education this building will bring to our sons and daughters.”

Jindal is one of several state officials who helped assemble the patchwork of nearly $21 million to pay for the new building, which includes construction money from the state and donations from giant multi-national companies such as BP to locals like Houma engineer Clifford Smith and Coastal Commerce Bank.

Jindal has long pushed to beef up the state's historically underdeveloped community college system, arguing such schools are vital to the state's economic development.

“We're not just competing with other states, we're competing with other countries,” Jindal said. “We need a world-class education system to do that.”

Jindal said schools like Fletcher fill the critical demand for jobs that require more training than high school but not as much as four-year universities.

At 100,000 square feet, the new campus in Gray is the largest single building in the state's technical and community college system. It will roughly double Fletcher's teaching space, something administrators said the school badly needs.

The campus was built entirely by local architects and contractors in only 18 months, a feat several of the speakers marveled at during the ceremony.

The campus will also be stocked with state-of-the art equipment, including 10 brand-new computer labs, a student learning center and a lounge with a food stand.

Enrollment at Fletcher has exploded because of increasing state investment in the school and a constantly strengthened relationship with Nicholls State University.

Fletcher and Nicholls have strengthened their ties over the past few years, making cross-enrollment and credit transfers easier.

That's allowed Nicholls to toughen its admissions standards, boosting graduation rates and student performance while giving students a “launching pad” at Fletcher into more rigorous four-year university academics.

That also means enrollment at Fletcher has skyrocketed in the past decade, up from a few hundred in the early 2000s to more than 2,500 last fall.

That break-neck pace of growth has left the school's facilities grossly overused. The school's campus on St. Charles Street in Houma, which has been its main campus for decades, was designed to hold only 300 students but often housed as many as 700.

“It's definitely cramped in that building,” Hutchinson said. “It's almost impossible to find easy parking pretty much every day.”

Fletcher will keep open that building as well as its Marine and Petroleum Institute and Allied Health

Building.

In many ways, the school is already looking forward to the future. A web of walking paths spreads out behind the new building, leading seemingly to nowhere. Those paths have been laid out to connect to even more buildings that will accommodate the school's further growth.

Plans are already in the works to build a nearby technical training facility for oil field jobs, using a $4 million donation from BP. Chancellor Travis Lavigne said construction should start on that building before the year is finished.

Lavigne, who has worked at the school for more than 30 years, said the new campus is one of the biggest developments in the school's history.

“This is truly a historic event for this campus and the community,” Lavigne said. “It shows how much support this school has, and it proves that this school will continue to grow and thrive for years to come.”

Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at matthew.albright@dailycomet.com.

<p>It took a long time for Fletcher Technical Community College student Aaron Hutchinson's eyes to un-widen Tuesday.</p><p>Hutchinson stood in the soaring central atrium of the school's new campus on La. 311 between Houma and Thibodaux, taking in its sheer size.</p><p>“It's huge,” the former student government vice president said. “And it's beautiful.”</p><p>School officials unveiled the new building Tuesday in front of a crowd boasting a host of dignitaries on both the state and local level. </p><p>“This is a gorgeous building, but it's about a lot more than bricks and mortar,” Gov. Bobby Jindal said “It's about the education this building will bring to our sons and daughters.”</p><p>Jindal is one of several state officials who helped assemble the patchwork of nearly $21 million to pay for the new building, which includes construction money from the state and donations from giant multi-national companies such as BP to locals like Houma engineer Clifford Smith and Coastal Commerce Bank. </p><p>Jindal has long pushed to beef up the state's historically underdeveloped community college system, arguing such schools are vital to the state's economic development.</p><p>“We're not just competing with other states, we're competing with other countries,” Jindal said. “We need a world-class education system to do that.”</p><p>Jindal said schools like Fletcher fill the critical demand for jobs that require more training than high school but not as much as four-year universities. </p><p>At 100,000 square feet, the new campus in Gray is the largest single building in the state's technical and community college system. It will roughly double Fletcher's teaching space, something administrators said the school badly needs.</p><p>The campus was built entirely by local architects and contractors in only 18 months, a feat several of the speakers marveled at during the ceremony.</p><p>The campus will also be stocked with state-of-the art equipment, including 10 brand-new computer labs, a student learning center and a lounge with a food stand.</p><p>Enrollment at Fletcher has exploded because of increasing state investment in the school and a constantly strengthened relationship with Nicholls State University. </p><p>Fletcher and Nicholls have strengthened their ties over the past few years, making cross-enrollment and credit transfers easier. </p><p>That's allowed Nicholls to toughen its admissions standards, boosting graduation rates and student performance while giving students a “launching pad” at Fletcher into more rigorous four-year university academics.</p><p>That also means enrollment at Fletcher has skyrocketed in the past decade, up from a few hundred in the early 2000s to more than 2,500 last fall. </p><p>That break-neck pace of growth has left the school's facilities grossly overused. The school's campus on St. Charles Street in Houma, which has been its main campus for decades, was designed to hold only 300 students but often housed as many as 700. </p><p>“It's definitely cramped in that building,” Hutchinson said. “It's almost impossible to find easy parking pretty much every day.” </p><p>Fletcher will keep open that building as well as its Marine and Petroleum Institute and Allied Health </p><p>Building. </p><p>In many ways, the school is already looking forward to the future. A web of walking paths spreads out behind the new building, leading seemingly to nowhere. Those paths have been laid out to connect to even more buildings that will accommodate the school's further growth.</p><p>Plans are already in the works to build a nearby technical training facility for oil field jobs, using a $4 million donation from BP. Chancellor Travis Lavigne said construction should start on that building before the year is finished.</p><p>Lavigne, who has worked at the school for more than 30 years, said the new campus is one of the biggest developments in the school's history.</p><p>“This is truly a historic event for this campus and the community,” Lavigne said. “It shows how much support this school has, and it proves that this school will continue to grow and thrive for years to come.”</p><p>Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at matthew.albright@dailycomet.com.</p>